Monsters of the Ring
by EviIPaladin
Summary: Tawny Kallisto is the reigning champion of the Beacon Fight Club (no affiliation to the movie kind although the jokes have been made). As she enters her fourth and final year at Beacon, she is put up against Yang Xiao Long, who is rumoured to be the best new blood from the first year. Who will win in this battle of monsters? Mild language.


**A/N:** Hey everyone. I'm not normally one to put up my OC stuff up (partially because I never finish the stuff) but I kind of liked writing this, so I felt like sharing! Next time I promise to do canon characters only. Hope at least some of you enjoy it!

Tawny inhaled as she made her way into the dimly lit ring. The smell of sweat, with just a small hint of blood, was comforting to her. The roaring cheers of the crowd left her ears ringing as her huge hulking figure climbed over the ropes. As she turned to wave at the crowd, she spied her opponent from behind her mask.

She stood tall, with cascading blonde hair. She kept punching her fists together, to steel herself for the battle, likely. Then she looked at Tawny. Those lilac eyes were hardened, not a trace of nervousness to be found. _This is the first year they are feeding me? Not bad…_

Making her way to the corner, her opponent dashed in, vaulting the ropes with ease. The crowd was pleased and their audible cheers almost matched that of seeing Tawny enter the ring. Almost.

"Welcome, one and all," began the announcer, his bright red eyes glinting as the blonde made her way to her corner. "To the first bout of the year! In the red corner, our reigning champion, Tawny Kallisto, the Bear Handed Brute!"

Spinning to face the crowd, Tawny's long Ursa hide cloak flapped, a little flair she had always been a fan of. The audience clearly agreed, as Tawny felt that the ring itself trembled at the deafening cheers of the crowd. Her brown eyes flicked over to see if her opponent was in anyway intimidated. Judging by the determined expression she wore, Tawny doubted it. _Good._

"And in the blue corner," continued the announcer, waving over to the opposite side of the ring. "Is our top pick from the first years… Yang Xiao Long, the Bombshell Beast!"

Yang raised a solitary fist in the air, a sweet smile on her lips. Tawny rolled her eyes at the display but she seemed to be in the minority.

"And I am your humble announcer, Raqib Greeniq!" He took a deep bow to some jeers and some cheers. "Now, both fighters to center ring!"

As Tawny found herself standing so close to her opponent, she realized this would be even less of a fair fight than she had initially thought. Not only was Yang a first year but she was quite a bit shorter than her. Tawny almost felt bad for her, but Yang had agreed to the fight and didn't look to be backing down now.

"Good luck; you'll need it," said Tawny, reaching out a hand.

"Oh, I do hope you'll go easy on little ol' me," said Yang, accepting the handshake. But Tawny saw that steel behind the soft eyes. Besides, a decisive victory would be a nice way to kick off the season.

"Alright, ladies, back to your corners," Raqib softly pushed the two apart. "And good luck to both of you. May the better fighter win."

As soon as Tawny reached her end, she heard the metallic ringing of the bell and turned to face Yang. She was barrelling down towards Tawny, fists held up to her nose. _An in-fighter boxer?_ thought Tawny, stepping forward slowly but forcefully. This would be an interesting fight.

Tawny decided to start the offense, swinging a wide left hook to catch the charging Yang. However, she read the telegraphed attack and quickly ducked and weaved to avoid it while still closing ground.

When she looked up, Tawny matched her gaze. Yang rose with incredible speed, bringing her left fist up with her. _Not fast enough._ Tawny slammed down her right fist and caught the blow. The loud _smack_ of skin and bone colliding echoed the ring, as Tawny pulled back her left arm to throw another blow at Yang. However, the blow was once again easily read and Yang retreated, raising her fists back up to her nose again just in case. But it wasn't needed as the strike found only empty air.

Tawny chuckled. This was going to be a good fight.

Not that she got to think about that for more than a split second as Yang dashed in again, weaving side to side as she did. Instead of throwing out another hook, Tawny charged forwards as well, notably slower than her opponent. Yang threw out a quick jab, catching Tawny under the chin. It was a solid blow but that wasn't about to stop the reigning champion. Especially not with her momentum empowering her. Instead, Tawny stepped behind Yang, who was caught off-guard at how fluidly the mask wearing girl could move when she wanted to. Hooking her arms around Yang's waist, Tawny lifted the blonde from behind before arcing her back and slamming Yang's head on the ground with extreme force.

"The Perfect Bearplex!" announced Raqib, to a roaring and cheering audience. The move was a staple of Tawny's and, like all of her powerful grappling maneuvers, was a huge crowd pleaser.

With a wide grin on her half-masked face, Tawny rolled onto her feet off the springy canvas. "Bad first match-up," she said to Yang, her voice drowned out by the spectators and Raqib's count. "Better luck in your next match." Tawny waved to the fans as she walked back to her corner, a little disappointed at how quick of a match that was.

Then the canvas shook. The crowd gasped and Tawny slowly turned to face a now standing Yang. Although, to look at her, Tawny wasn't sure if that was Yang or not. Her long blonde hair now seemed to glow and her determined lilac eyes were now deep red, filled with a look of indignant rage.

"The challenger bounces back!" declared Raqib, to the spectators' joy.

Tawny only shrugged before resuming her fighting stance. "You should've stayed down, kid."

The bell rang out and Yang flew towards Tawny, crossing the mat in a fraction of a second. Tawny would have gasped at the speed shown but a lightning fast body blow drove most of the wind out of her body. By the time she felt the blow, Yang's fist was already pulled back and about to rain a second one in. In the blink of an eye, Tawny found herself sinking to her knees, stunned at what had just happened. Looking her foe in the eye, Tawny barely had time to register the incoming hook before it landed. The punch sent Tawny backwards and put her down on the canvas.

The second after Tawny landed heavily, there was no sound in the room. The crowd was silent and even Raqib had no words. Tawny had lost two matches since she and Raqib had started the fighting ring three years ago and none of them had passed like that. No one had made her look bad.

"Is this the best the reigning champ can bring to the table?" bellowed Yang, her blazing red eyes flickering with unspent energy.

"Great job, Yang!" yelled a few girls in the crowd. _First years_, guessed Raqib, his mind slowly putting itself back together. Then he noticed Yang was glaring at him. _Shit, the count!_

"One! Two! Three!"

Tawny was in a daze, still unsure of what had just happened. Yang did hit pretty hard in the first round, she would admit. But she dealt with stronger punchers. At least, compared to Yang's initial attacks. As Tawny struggled to move her head off the canvas, she took another look at her opponent. What once was a first-year girl was now something else entirely. _A monster_.

"Four! Five! Six!"

Tawny considered just laying down. As it was, she wouldn't be able to stand against someone with access to that kind of speed and power. But then she saw those angry red eyes catch her own brown one. Tawny saw something there. A desire. A hunger. _A challenge_.

"Seven!"

If Yang was a monster, she would just have to fight with her own, wouldn't she? Tawny smiled softly. That was that then.

"Eight!"

Again, the ring shook as Tawny slammed her fists into it. Pushing her back off the ground, the crowd began to roar with excitement. Yang watched, her eyes locked with Tawny's, both looking eager.

As Tawny assumed her fighting stance, she noticed how much her legs shook. Or was that just her vision swimming? In any case, it seemed those punches hit harder than she thought. She took a deep breath and smiled. This was going to be fun.

"Are you able to continue?" asked Raqib, genuine concern in his voice. This first-year might have been more than Tawny could handle alone. The thought made him shiver. Her only two loses were in first-year to fourth-years. Even still, she beat most of them. But this other girl? Raqib didn't want to even look back at her. Those eyes were far more intimidating than he could ever look, despite the matching colour.

"Yeah, me and Bro have this," smiled Tawny, patting her shorter teammate on the shoulder.

Raqib froze. If Darren and Ivory ever found out Tawny had truly cut loose on a match instead of saving it for a mission… "Tawny, you should throw in the towel. You'll have other matches and we have a mission next week."

She shook her head. "No way. Yang doesn't want a victory like this. I saw it in her eyes. She wants a challenge."

"And I want a few gorgeous life partners and a lifetime supply of homemade curry but we can't always get what we want." But even as Raqib attempted to break through to Tawny with snark, he saw her hand stray to her Ursa mask. This girl was impossible; she'd listen until she decided on something and then you'd accomplish more trying to have a diplomatic meeting with Grimm. He just hoped her stubbornness wouldn't get her or Yang killed. He didn't need blood on his hands.

As he backed off, the bell rang. Yang, returning to her boxing stance, didn't rush in as Tawny slowly moved the mask to cover her whole face. Most of the crowd was in a confused silence but Raqib knew some members of other fourth-year teams were in the audience. They would know what was happening. Raqib just hoped they wouldn't report it; he had promised Goodwitch that he would shut it down. Now if there was one person who could scare him more than anything, it was her.

As the mask slid into place, Tawny felt a serene calm wash over her. Her legs stopped shaking and her vision cleared. She saw nothing but Yang, who kept moving her feet, waiting for what would happen next.

Then Tawny's vision went red and the monster awoke.

Tawny threw her arms back, leaned in, and roared. The warcry echoed the room and seemed to shake it ever so slightly. Yang, on the other hand, was far from shaken as she charged in with another brutal right hook. The blow landed with a resounding _thud_. Yang smiled until she noticed the roaring hadn't stopped.

Tawny's molten gaze from behind the mask turned to catch Yang's own. A heavy fist flew out and caught Yang in the cheekbone, sending her reeling but she quickly resumed her stance. Tawny did not let the opportunity to go to waste, charging forward.

Raqib chanced a look at the crowd and saw confusion and excitement. They paid to see a pair of sluggers punch and beat each other up and instead they found themselves watching two absolute monsters trying to knock the other into a coma.

Yang was on the ropes as Tawny closed in, throwing out jabs that you could miss if you so much as blinked. Tawny made no attempts to dodge or block these blows as they didn't even make her flinch. She threw her own punches which, while not as powerful or quick as Yang's, were looking to add up far more, judging by her own tempo slowing down.

As one punch came out slower than the rest, Tawny saw her opportunity. Her right hand grabbed Yang's wrist and pulled her in. Her left hand shot out and wrapped itself around Yang's neck. She hoisted Yang into the air amidst the screeching of the crowd. Then she threw her down onto her right knee, as she assumed the proposal pose. Yang coughed as the wind was driven from her lungs by the brutal move.

The spectators bellowed as Tawny tossed Yang off her knee and stood up._ The Broken Bearial._ Raqib knew the move as one of Tawny's most painful finishers. The last fighter she had used it on had to miss his next match as he was still recovering. This was the end of the fight. Raqib was just glad it didn't go any further or else Yang and Tawny would be of no use to anyone.

"One! Two! Three!"

"No need to count, ref," someone from the crowd called. "You could count to 100, she ain't gettin' up!"

"Four! Five! Six!"

"You can do it, Yang!" yelled the same voice from earlier although she certainly had more supporters now. Yang had at the very least proven herself to be a major threat, even if she lost this match.

"Seven! Eight! Nine!"

A fearsome roar surged through the room, as a battered Yang managed to jump up from her position. Her breathing was slow and laboured but those eyes… Raqib saw boundless determination in those eyes. Like a scarier Tawny, outside of her Bearzerking state. "Are you okay to—"

"I've had tougher tussles with my corgi," spat Yang, but the wide grin revealed her true thoughts. Raqib just solemnly shook his head, wondering what was in the water here that made some people so eager to hurt themselves. He wasn't one to shame kinks but still…

"Regardless, if you get downed again, that is the match. Understood?"

Yang nodded, not breaking eye contact with Tawny. Raqib turned to look at his teammate and saw those haunting molten eyes. He really wished he had opened up betting on who would hospitalize who… He would've made a killing betting that both would end up there.

The bell rang and Yang dashed forward, her adrenalin dulling the pain. As Tawny met her in the center of the ring, the two threw out heavy punches, with their fists colliding. The sound of knuckles smashing into each other echoed the ring.

As Yang pulled a fist back slower than before, Tawny saw her chance to end the fight. Lunging forward to grab, a smile flickered across Yang's face as she ducked and sidestepped the grapple. Pulling back her right arm, she leaned close to the ground and pushed forward, faster than any of her strikes before. The fist rose and connected directly with Tawny's thick chin. The blow came so quick and so heavily that Tawny's feet left the canvas. The sound of the crowd drawing in their breath followed the blow, with Tawny still off the ground. The blow would've knocked out almost any adversary.

But Tawny was not one of them.

As Tawny's feet landed back on the canvas, her gaze turned down to look into Yang's own eyes. Some small part of Tawny could still register the defeat she saw looking back at her. It was finally and truly time to end this slugfest.

Pushing aside the fist that still rested on her chin, she linked her arms around Yang's shoulders, restricting her arm movement. As she once again arched her back, loud growls began to form words.

"The first bed… was too soft!"

Yang's head made a solid collision with the canvas. Tawny could feel Yang's determination begin to return. Rolling back onto her feet, but still holding her grip on Yang, she repeated the maneuver.

"The second bed… was too hard!"

The second _thud_ sounded far heavier than the first and many in the crowd winced. But Tawny felt it… The burning resolve was returning to her opponent. She had to end it here or there was no way she could win, even like this. Once more getting to her feet, she loosened her grip.

"The third bed…"

Instead of going for a third suplex, Tawny adjusted her grip and threw Yang into the air. Before she could react, Tawny jumped up with her and placed a heavy hand on Yang's back.

"…was just right! Goodnight!"

Yang's body slammed into the mat with horrific force. The entire ring swayed for a moment before the stress was too much. The ropes snapped and the posts lost their balance as the entire ring tore itself apart and collapsed. Raqib was barely able to keep his footing as Tawny landed on the wrecked ring, falling to one knee from the stress inflicted upon her own body.

Raqib, shaking from both incredible excitement and fear of having to pay for the replacement of the ring, grabbed his mic and Tawny's hand. "One and all, we have our winner! The reigning champion, the Bear Handed Brute… Tawny Kallisto!"

Absolute roaring applause filled the room, matched by Tawny's own victory cries. In the sense of jubilation, she moved her mask and deactivated her Semblance. The cries of joy quickly became cries of pain as she collapsed to one knee. Everything in her body was howling in pain. She spared a quick glance at her fists and found them to be a mess of mangled skin, blood, and what looked like some bone. The pain was too much and ten seconds after having stood triumphant over Yang Xiao Long, Tawny passed out.

"Unbelievable! I can't believe you, like, let Tawny do this to herself! Ugh, I should've, like, expected that from you, Raqib."

Tawny's eyes slowly blinked awake, as she found herself in the infirmary. Over to her left, she saw her three teammates. Ivory, the one who had just spoken, had her back to Tawny which meant the injured teen could see all the scars across Ivory's back. Her gaze turned back to her own fists, heavily bandaged but feeling rather alright.

"Are you kidding? You think I could stop Tawny when she has her mind set on something?" Raqib's voice was raw and punctuated with loud gulps of water. "If I had tried to cancel the match, her, Yang, and the entire crowd would've killed me!"

"In any case," spoke up Darren, leaning against a table, his eyes flickering over to Tawny's bed. "She's awake."

Ivory spun around as Tawny meekly waved. "Sorry."

"Sorry?!" Ivory was at Tawny's side in a flash. "You are, like, the biggest idiot I know! Considering our teammates, that's, like, a major accomplishment!" Ivory rubbed her temples angrily. "Look, tell me you two aren't, like, going to have another bout for a while. We do occasionally have to do missions."

"I-I promise," muttered Tawny, reaching out to touch one of Ivory's large polar bear ears. Everything was still a sort of daze. Maybe she could use this as an excuse to touch them… But Ivory pulled away and Tawny pouted. She looked to Darren and a wide smile grew on her lips. "Oh, but you guys should've seen me! I was like 'Blam!' and she was like 'HRAAAAAAAH!' and then I did the sickest suplex ever!"

Raqib chuckled. "She did kick copious amounts of ass, all things considered."

Darren sighed but Tawny knew their team leader well enough to see a trace of a smile behind his cloth mask. "Well, in any case, Ivory is right. We need you in top form for missions. After all, you and Ivory are the muscle of our team."

"Of course," cut in Raqib, his signature shit-eating grin flashing his pearly whites. "I am the brains and Darren is our mascot."

Tawny chuckled as Darren muttered something under his breath and Ivory rolled her eyes. The team left shortly after, having classes to attend to. Ivory promised to bring Tawny her notes for the classes and then they were gone.

As Tawny let sleep creep up on her, she slept with a smile. Even if she was a bit of a monster sometimes, her friends still loved her. And that was all she needed.

As Tawny stirred, she found herself looking at someone vaguely familiar. It wasn't any of her friends on Team DIRT, but she knew her. She had cascading blonde curls and bright lilac eyes. She wore an outfit of brown leather and carried herself with a certain level of confidence. It took a moment but Tawny was surprised to see how differently she looked outside of the dark fight room.

"Yang?"

The blonde looked down suddenly then over into Tawny's one visible brown eye. Yang smiled softly, looking almost motherly to Tawny. "Hey, I just wanted to drop by and apologize for getting you like this."

Tawny laughed and then winced in pain as her ribs hurt. "It's no biggie." There was a brief silence before Tawny spoke up again. "You know, you were incredible! I can't remember the last time I fought someone as tough as you!"

"Really?"

"Really. You were so cool and so strong…" Tawny paused to ponder something. "Yup, you definitely would've crushed me if you fought me when I was in first year."

Yang's smile grew. "Wow, thanks! I've heard so much about you! Is it true you are 27-2?"

Tawny nodded. "Yea—Actually, 28-2 now, thanks to you."

Yang playfully jabbed Tawny in the shoulder before the older girl yelped in pain. "Oh shit!"

"Hey, no swearing," said Tawny. "But yeah, I'm looking forward to our rematch."

Yang nodded and her grin turned somewhat cocky. "Yeah, I already arranged it with Raqib. After shooting him down… Is he always like that?"

Tawny shrugged. "But we should probably not repeat this fight next time… How about a no Semblance match?"

Yang paused for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, no need to hospitalize you again, old news."

_Old news?!_ Tawny's own grin widened. "Well, I don't want to have to keep breaking rings with your face. Raqib'll start making me pay for them."

Yang hopped up from her chair. "Well I guess I'll just be the bigger woman here and walk… a… way…" The laugh that followed was like music to Tawny's ears.

She couldn't wait until the rematch.


End file.
